


snared

by axebastard



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares, Post-Canon, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:33:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25602865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/axebastard/pseuds/axebastard
Summary: Picture this: a monster caught in a barbed wire fence. And now picture the boy who, despite everything, comes to his rescue.Ain't it sweet?
Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken
Comments: 13
Kudos: 109





	snared

Theo had never been that good at being a person. He envied animals – real animals, not glorified lab rats like himself. They weren't quite complex enough for jealousy, or shame, or regret. Theo longed for that simplicity, longed for the modesty of teeth and claws and flesh and dirt and nothing more.

Theo wished things were simple. Who didn't?

But Theo wasn't a real animal, and was therefore plagued by all those intricate little human emotions that the Dread Doctors had tried so hard to stamp out of him. And on nights like these, he wished they had succeeded. 

Theo had nightmares. This was a given. His subconscious had more than enough material to work with, after all. So Theo had nightmares. About Tara. About being torn apart and rearranged. About having his heart ripped out like a weed, again and again and again.

Theo had nightmares, and he liked to run them out of his system. He'd shift, and he'd run, and run, and run, tearing through the woods like a bat out of hell.

He really was a bat out of hell, wasn't he?

This particular nightmare was different than the others. He dreamt he was being pulled apart by wolves. They sank their ivory hooks into him like they couldn't get enough, severing every artery, mangling every limb. Their faces were soaked with the carnage, red and dripping, and all the while Theo didn't make a sound. And through the slick salty haze, he could make out a few people standing by. Just watching. Like it was a show.

Eventually, they turned and vanished, leaving the wolves to their fun. Leaving Theo to his violent, rightful undoing.

He deserved this. He deserved to be undone. Viciously.

Theo didn't scream when he woke up in the back seat of his car. He didn't even whimper. He just laid there, heart slamming against his ribs, nails digging into the upholstery. There was a lump in his throat, but he swallowed it. There were tears in his eyes, but he blinked them away.

He didn't need to cry. He needed to _run_.

Slowly but surely, Theo started dragging himself towards the closest exit, slipping out of the car and slamming the door shut behind him. It was dark outside, middle-of-the-night dark, and Theo was more than grateful for the obscurity. 

He'd parked at the local movie theater – it was close to the woods, and nobody ever told him to leave. People were always telling him to leave.

Theo ran. He ran for the trees, the dirt, the underbrush. And as he ran, he shifted, bones splintering and skin rippling. He ran on two legs, then four, barreling through the forest with the rearranged anatomy of an abomination. He ran until the world was just one big, simple blur, and nothing mattered anymore. 

A bat out of hell.

Tongue lolling, ears back, tail flying, Theo ran until he had no choice but to stop. Because he went crashing straight into a barbed wire fence.

And just like that, the world wasn't a blissful blur anymore. It was the sensation of being cut open, here and there and everywhere.

Theo was familiar with the feeling.

He didn't cry out, because of course he didn't. He twisted, and snarled, and tried his damned hardest to tear himself free. The wire just sank in deeper; ripped him further apart. He bit at the metal, only to instantly regret it when his mouth got sliced open, too.

Eventually Theo had to stop struggling, panting and fur caked with blood. He thought about shifting back, but figured that would do more harm than good. God knows he'd probably get butchered in the process.

So he was stuck. And all because he'd been too busy running from the inescapable to watch where he was going. It wasn't like him to be so stupid.

It also wasn't like him to let out a long, raspy cry, because that was a gesture of weakness, and he knew damn well nobody would come to his rescue. Not after everything.

_Nobody's coming. You're all alone out here._

Something like despair twisted in Theo's chest. He hated to pity himself, because pity was the last thing he deserved. But here, tangled in a barbed wire fence at the edge of the woods, he couldn't help but think, _Why me? Why all this cutting and bleeding? I know I'm terrible, but holy shit. Enough of the suffering already._

Theo's brief pity party was interrupted by the sound of a twig snapping half a mile away. He kind of just assumed it was an animal before catching a familiar scent. The scent of a stupid, angry teenage boy.

Very rarely did Theo find himself shocked. But this? This was shocking.

Somebody was coming to his rescue. And that somebody was Liam.

A wave of relief washed over Theo, only to be drowned out by an even bigger wave of embarrassment. Because he was Theo Raeken, science experiment gone murderously right, and he was stuck in a fucking fence. He was trapped, and bloody, and _vulnerable_. Theo didn't do vulnerable.

But there wasn't much else he could be when Liam emerged from the trees, moonlight spilling across his dumb, beautiful face.

"Theo?" he sputtered, hurrying closer to kneel down in front of the snared chimera. "Oh my God, dude. I heard you howl. What happened?"

Theo just stared at him with blank yellow eyes, as if to say "isn't it obvious?" 

"Don't move, okay? I'm gonna get you outta there," Liam assured him, and if Theo could've laughed, he would have, because it's not like he could go anywhere anyway.

He watched as Liam pulled out a pocket knife and started sawing away at the wires, most of which were crusted with dried blood. Occasionally he'd get pricked by one of the steel thorns; he'd stop, and swear, and heal, and then keep right on cutting.

"This is gonna take awhile," Liam said after roughly five minutes of this, and Theo just huffed. It's not like he'd be lucky enough to get rescued by somebody who carried around bolt cutters. Besides, what was a little more blood loss?

As soon as Theo had the opportunity to rip himself free, he did just that, pulling himself from the fence's metallic grasp in a spray of blood and fur. He startled Liam, who fell back with wide eyes, catching himself by his elbows. And Theo thought about bolting, thought about running off into the dark to lick his already-healing wounds, but he didn't. For whatever reason, he didn't.

No, for once in his life, Theo didn't run. He finally shifted back, trading in the wounded beast for the wounded boy. He sat there in front of Liam, naked and breathless with his knees hugged to his chest, covered in dried blood from cuts that were already starting to close. Here was Theo, exposed. Here was Theo, painfully fucking vulnerable. And there was Liam, staring at him in all his nude, fragile glory.

Perfect.

"You okay?" Liam asked after a beat, blinking at Theo, who set his jaw.

"I'm fine."

Liam furrowed his brows, looking from Theo to the fence and back again. "How did that even happen?"

"I was running, and... I dunno," Theo said, cursing the way his voice cracked at the end. "It doesn't matter."

"Was something chasing you?" 

_Yes. Something always is._ "No. I just wasn't paying attention, I guess."

"Oh. Well, watch where you're goin' next time," Liam said, and the genuine concern written all over his face was enough to make Theo throw up or cry or both.

"I will."

Theo expected Liam to get up and leave then. Why wouldn't he? There was nothing more to do. But he didn't get up, and he didn't leave. He just kept looking at Theo with those round, worried eyes all agleam with moonbeams.

"Theo?" Liam murmured after awhile, the name impossibly gentle between his teeth. 

"What?" Theo replied, aiming for annoyance but falling so damn short. It was only then that he realized he was shaking. Violently, and all over. Like an abandoned house in an earthquake. Like somebody coming undone.

So fucking embarrassing.

That's when Liam surged forward to throw his arms around Theo, holding him oh-so tight. Theo went perfectly still at first, trauma-molded brain struggling to make sense of it. How long had it been since he'd been held? He couldn't even remember. Years, maybe.

Slowly but surely, Theo lifted his shaky hands and gripped the back of Liam's sweatshirt, like he was anchoring himself. Anchoring himself to Liam and his kindness.

_Somebody cares about me. Liam cares about me._

This realization was the loveliest punch to the gut Theo had ever felt. He buried his face in Liam's neck, buried all his grief in the smell of Old Spice and sleepiness. Liam had crawled out of bed to find him. _Him_. Theo Raeken, the boy _literally_ from hell.

God knows he didn't deserve it.

Their hearts had begun to beat in sync, and Theo let the steady _thumpthumpthump_ drive the tremors and night terrors from his body. Like an antidote crafted specifically for his weary, horrible soul. And then Liam was pulling away, rising to his feet and offering Theo a hand.

"C'mon, dude," he urged, smiling like this was all perfectly normal – the two of them embracing in the dark at the edge of the woods. "Let's get you some clothes. And, like, a bed."

And when Theo reached up to take Liam's hand, he decided he was glad the Dread Doctors hadn't succeeded in stamping all those intricate little human emotions out of him.

**Author's Note:**

> this is just a weird lil fic that came to me in a dream but i hope somebody enjoyed it!! i'm @theogayken on tumblr so feel free to come discuss these stupid wolf-boys with me <3


End file.
